Westerwaldkreis walks

The stage takes us behind Selters to the "Hahn" hill and the "Wacht" viewpoint, where we come across a Stone Age site. Later, we reach the old Jewish cemetery of Selters and learn why many inhabitants of Sessenhausen were "Landgänger" (people who left the land), pass a biotope at the Holzbach stream and reach Dierdorf through a magnificent beech forest.

The Westerwald Lake District is an undulating plateau between the mountains of the Hachenburg and Höchstenbach forests in the north and the Saynbach valley in the south. The Cologne Trail runs almost all the way around the Dreifelder Weiher and leads through a densely wooded landscape to the Haiden, Brinken and Postweiher lakes. We continue our hike to Maxsain, pass a beautiful half-timbered house and finally head for Selters.

We walk through Bad Marienberg, cross the Schwarze Nister and later, at Langenbach, cross the Nister for the last time, pass the Götzenberg and arrive at Stöffel Park in Stockum-Püschen. Just outside Rotenhain, it is worth visiting the excavation site of the Alte Burg (old castle). We then walk past the Vierherrenstein (Four Lords' Stone) through extensive woodland to Dreifelden.

We walk past former mines and collieries and reach the Hoher Westerwald. At the Großer Wolfstein, we come across a legendary rock formation and then reach the highest point of the entire Cologne Trail at 567 metres on the Marienberger Höhe. Later, we come to the Marienberg Wildlife Park and the Hedwigsturm tower with its magnificent view. Shortly afterwards, we reach a stone nature trail and, a little later, the impressive Basalt Park.

The medieval long-distance roads from Cologne to Leipzig and Cologne to Frankfurt, as well as the iron road from the Siegerland region, already met in Hachenburg during the Carolingian period. Emperor Frederick Barbarossa advised Count Henry II of Sayn to build a defensive structure with a fortification wall to secure the trade routes. In 1314, Emperor Louis the Bavarian granted Hachenburg town rights. Hachenburg's Old Market Square is considered the most beautiful market square in the Westerwald. After a long walk through the historic old town and a visit to the Landscape Museum, we hike through the Hachenburg Forest to the Nister and on to Unnau-Korb.

There is hardly a more unspoilt and picturesque section along the Nister than the stretch between Heimborn and Hachenburg. At Heimborn, the Kleine Nister flows into the Nister. This is one of the most charming spots in the Westerwald. The Nister, which has carved its way deep into the north-eastern part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains, has formed steep and unusual rock formations, such as the Hohe Ley, together with mountain folds. Since the Middle Ages, the Nister Valley with the Marienstatt monastery has been a Christian centre and boasts a special gem: the oldest Gothic church on the right bank of the Rhine in Germany.